My latest Tribune language column:
On the Esperanto Society of Chicago, dedicated to studying and celebrating an obscure international language invented in the 19th century.
temp link/perm.preview

One of the most interesting things about Esperanto that I had to cut from the piece is "Passporto Servo" ("passport service"), in which Esperantists can travel to any of 80+ countries where the language is spoken and find free lodging with fellow Esperantists. This has the practical benefit of cutting travel expenses and the idealistic benefit of fostering international goodwill. That and more is covered in this fine magazine-length piece on Esperanto earlier this year in the Ottawa Citizen.

Other Esperanto links:
http://www.esperanto-usa.org/links
http://www.esperanto-chicago.org
http://www.esperanto-chicago.org/16rules.htm
http://www.esperanto-chicago.org/glossary.htm
http://www.esperanto-chicago.org/phrases.htm
http://www.radicalparty.org/esperanto/ins_un.htm
http://www.onb.ac.at/ev/collections/esperanto/esp_about.htm
http://www.campusprogram.com/reference/en/wikipedia/e/es/esperanto.html
http://www.esne.net/ligoj/boston_globe_article.htm
http://www.vaticanradio.org/esperanto/proesperanto.htm
http://www.uea.org/info/angle/an_ghisdatigo.html

Inflections:
-I thought this subhead on the Economist's Web site was awkwardly constructed:
"Ronald Reagan was fond of a nap and no intellectual."

-On yesterday's Simpsons rerun:

Homer: What are you, Judge Judy and executioner?
Ad: Apartment Finders: We put you in your place

- Blogger M.S. (via LL) prides herself on sentences unlikely to be repeated:

I want this to be more like a yo-yo than it can realistically be.

I blame the mango.

The patient had a history of ingesting inadequately cooked frogs.

Don't feed your racist toothpaste to the cat.

My favorite nonsensical sentence was by my English linguistics prof (although it may have originated with Chomsky):

The green ideas slept furiously.

- Putting Slate's Bushisms in context, from Spinsanity.